A Safe Ride called overwhelming success

Use of the new safety shuttle is very heavy after little more than a
month of service, according to Campus Police Chief Anne P. Glavin.

"Originally we thought that this thing would take off within six months
or a year's time," Glavin said. "It really took off within the first four
days."

The 12-passenger van runs from 6 pm to 3 am Sunday through Wednesday, and
until 4 am Thursday to Saturday. The shuttle was intended to lighten the
burden on the Campus Police escort service, which still runs during hours
the van does not.

Rides on the van are available to all members of the MIT community. "I
think that the primary emphasis has been on the student side," Glavin
explained.

Preliminary estimates indicated that about 60 people ride the van each
night. "We're collecting a lot of usage from the Boston fraternities and
independent living groups," Glavin said.

The shuttle service's popularity was difficult to predict, in part
because the previous escort service did not run to living groups in Boston.
Official statistics for van use were not available yet, but Glavin said the
van spends more than half its time in Boston.

"One of the things we were hoping would happen is that it would be
overwhelmingly successful," said Jennifer B. Singer '92, co-chair of the
Undergraduate Association's Campus Safety Committee, which proposed the
shuttle service.

She said that the success could overload the service and help convince
the administration to fund another van. The provost's office bears
operating costs for the van, which will run about $50,000 for the first
year, according to Provost Mark S. Wrighton.

Though the van runs through the weekend hours when fraternity parties are
held, there have been few problems with the riders. Glavin noted a few
occasions when riders had too much to drink and became "rowdy."

"The first weekend the shuttle was in operation we got a report that some
individuals on the 500 block of Beacon Street were disrupting the van. They
were shaking it," said Neal H. Dorow, advisor to fraternities and
independent living groups. Glavin asked Dorow to handle the matter, because
the primary riders of the van in that area live in ILGs.

"The incident was minor, but the results could be very major if they
aren't controlled," Dorow said.

Dorow talked to the Interfraternity Council President's Council about the
problem. He is also working with the IFC's community relations officer to
prevent another incident from occurring.

Glavin said the initial purpose of the van was safety of individual
travelers, but many people ride for convenience. "There has been a major
shift in the original purpose of the campus escort," Glavin said.

The heavy student use has turned into long waits for the van. Glavin said
that she has received some complaints that the wait for the van to arrive
is too long. Some students have waited as long as an hour, according to
Singer. During the summer months, the wait should be shorter, because fewer
students will be riding the van, Glavin said.

The heavy use of the van was expected, but not so soon after it started
running, Glavin said. "None of this has taken us by surprise," she said.
The heavy use prompted the Campus Police to begin considering options to
improve service.

"In terms of the problems, the difficulty is that we have only one van,"
Glavin said. The system also strains the Campus Police dispatch service,
which provides communication between the van driver and riders.

Glavin will consider options to lighten the load on the van and the
dispatch service. Singer added, "Now we're looking at getting another van
and some set routes." Singer said the creation of two routes, one for the
Cambridge side of the river and another for the Boston side, was being
considered.

Initially the shuttle service was meant to take some load off the Campus
Police officers. "With the other things they had to do, they just couldn't
keep up," Glavin said.